The present invention is directed to an electronic performance support system (EPSS), and, in particular, to an EPSS that is capable of providing for each user a customized course of instruction based on an assessment of each user""s knowledgeability of a particular topic.
The computer has changed the way people learn, opening up a myriad of new and ever-expanding possibilities for acquiring knowledge. Although the traditional classroom still remains the predominant vehicle for this pursuit of knowledge, computer-based training methods have permanently changed how the traditional classroom operates. Computer terminals at every desk are no longer the exclusive domain of computer programming classes. No longer is it a curious novelty for computers to serve as an aid to students and instructors in such non-technical disciplines as foreign languages. Further, with the expansion of computer networking, students are now able to access vast repositories of knowledge that are maintained elsewhere at remotely located computers or network servers. Moreover, these computer learning environments have expanded into the workplace, where business managers, who are always searching for new ways to increase employee productivity and improve competitiveness, require certain employees to learn more about their particular business. Computer learning environments that are dedicated to such purposes may instruct employees on improving certain aspects of their duties, such as sales or customer service, or these computer learning environments may instead be programmed to educate workers on new or existing products and services offered by a particular employer.
These computer-based training systems typically comprise a pre-programmed course of instruction maintained in memory, either at the user""s terminal or at a remote location that is accessible by the user""s terminal. For example, in a university setting, the course of instruction may relate to a foreign language. After logging on to such a system, the user is presented on a terminal display with various materials from the programmed course of instruction. Since these materials are arranged in a pre-determined viewing order, every user navigates through these materials over the same path, with little or no possibility of deviating to any extent from this pre-determined order. For those users who wish to focus only on certain specific sub-topics of the particular topic at hand, a tedious, plodding exercise results in which the users must navigate through each of the pre-programmed sub-topics in order to arrive at those sub-topics that are of interest to them. With respect to such users requiring a narrower focus on the materials, a lower teaching efficiency results. Further, these systems do not allow remote users to communicate with each other while they are interacting with the computer learning environment; such an inability to communicate forecloses users from sharing each other""s unique observations and insights on the learning materials.
Thus, one drawback of certain of these computer-based training systems is their inflexibility in presenting pre-stored course materials; what is therefore needed is a computer learning environment that can customize the presentation of such materials for each individual user. Another drawback is the inability of prior computer learning environments to allow users to communicate with each other through their respective terminals. Therefore, what is also needed is a computer learning environment that includes a communication medium through which users can interact with each other. Yet another drawback to such systems is the high degree of expertise in computer programming that is required to create a computer learning environment for a particular topic. What is therefore required is a computer learning environment that can be programmed by programming novices.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic performance support system that provides each user with an individualized course of instruction relating to a particular topic.
In accordance with these objects, the system of the present invention includes an authoring mechanism for creating at least one knowledge base, each knowledge base relating to a particular topic. Associated with each knowledge base is a learning environment, through which each user accesses the course content of a particular knowledge base. Each user interacts with the learning environment through an associated computer terminal. The learning environment includes an assessment mechanism, a learning mechanism, and a research library. The assessment mechanism is populated through the authoring mechanism with a plurality of pages, each one of which includes an assessment tool for evaluating a user""s knowledge on a particular sub-topic. Each assessment page is linked by the authoring mechanism to one or more data items that populate the learning mechanism and research library. These data items are also supplied into the learning environment and the research library through the authoring mechanism. The data items that are linked to an assessment page all relate to the same sub-topic that the associated assessment page addresses.
A user first interacts with the assessment mechanism of the present invention. The assessment mechanism presents each user with a series of assessment pages, with which the user interacts to deliver a response. The assessment tool of each assessment page may include a multiple choice question, a fill-in-the-blank question, or any other data structure to which a response from a user is required. After the user completes navigating through the assessment mechanism, the assessment mechanism determines which assessment tools were responded to incorrectly by the user. For these incorrectly answered assessment tools, the system of the present invention retrieves from the learning mechanism and research library those data items that were previously linked by the authoring mechanism to the incorrectly answered assessment tool. As stated above, these retrieved data items contain information relating only to the sub-topic that was addressed by the associated assessment tool. Thus, the system of the present invention provides to each user information that relates only to those sub-topics for which each user was assessed as being inadequately knowledgeable.
The system of the present invention also includes a communication medium that allows each user to communicate with any other user who is currently accessing the system of the present invention.